When the Motion Picture Assn. of America announced last year that Latinos had surpassed African Americans as the second largest group of movie ticket-buyers in the U.S., it gave Latino filmmakers added leverage in their ongoing efforts to have Hollywood make more films aimed at the burgeoning audience. And now there is an initial indication that the strategy is paying off.

For sure, New Line Cinema doesn't shy away from controversial, hard-to-market movies, as again evidenced by its latest release, "American History X." Just as the maverick company's 1997 release "Boogie Nights" dealt with a taboo subject--pornography--"American History X" delves into another commercially risky area, in-your-face racism and hate crimes.

Maybe New Line Cinema got it wrong--maybe "Rush Hour" should have been called "Money Talks." The junior film division of Time Warner played in the big leagues over the weekend, hitting a Sammy Sosa-like line drive over the back wall with the Chris Tucker-Jackie Chan action comedy, which exceeded weekend estimates to gross a staggering $33 million.

Looking to expand the market for fledgling DVD technology, New Line Home Video plans to release in October a digital versatile disc that for the first time takes advantage of the format's PC capabilities. New Line hopes to start a new category for DVD with "Lost in Space," which is designed to appeal to those who own a PC with a DVD-ROM drive. The movie, which works both on a DVD-ROM and on a DVD player, will be available Oct. 6 for $24.98.

New Line Cinema has committed upward of $130 million to make the most ambitious and costly film project in its history, a trilogy of films based on "The Lord of the Rings," J.R.R. Tolkien's classic series of fantasy novels. The three films will be shot simultaneously over the course of a year by Peter Jackson, a New Zealand film director best known for "Heavenly Creatures," the 1994 Kate Winslet-starring thriller, and "The Frighteners," a 1996 special-effects comedy with Michael J. Fox.

What's wrong with "Gone With the Wind"? That's what disgruntled filmgoers want to know after encountering disturbing image and sound problems in the newest reissue of the beloved 1939 Technicolor classic. There have been reports of problems locally, including several letters received by The Times, at the Mann Glendale Exchange Theater, AMC Century City, the United Artists Warner Center, the AMC Santa Monica and Pacific Winnetka All Stadium 20.

Is New Line Cinema attempting to capitalize on the troubles at the White House to promote its political satire "Wag the Dog"? As the crisis has intensified over allegations that President Clinton had an affair with a former intern, an advertisement for the film seems to draw comparisons to the real-life drama unfolding in Washington.

"We put the movies at your fingertips," reads a current newspaper ad for Moviefone. But if the movie your fingers wanted to find on Friday morning was Woody Allen's "Deconstructing Harry," just released by Fine Line Features, you were out of luck. It was the latest example of what studio marketers and exhibitors contend has been a pattern by Moviefone of excluding in its listing those films from companies that don't pay Moviefone thousands of dollars in advertising money.

Absent among the flood of this season's "for your consideration" ads in the Hollywood trade papers is Robert Altman's "Kansas City." But that, the director says, is not an accident. Altman contends that Fine Line Features--which last summer released the multi-character, jazz-era tale--has made no effort to mount an awards campaign. "We assumed they were going to," said Altman, who spoke to The Times from the Georgia location of his next film, "The Gingerbread Man."

New Line Cinema had planned to release "Theodore Rex," a film pairing Whoopi Goldberg with an animatronic dinosaur, last Friday--four days after her critically acclaimed turn hosting the Academy Awards. But the date came and went with no "Theodore Rex," which New Line says is now headed for TV or home video after an unsuccessful test-market theatrical run. The $33.5-million family comedy becomes one of the most expensive films in memory to virtually bypass the nation's cinemas.